Sushi for the Soul
by Gilari
Summary: The best restaurant in the universe. What could go wrong? With the Doctor and his trusty companions, Jenna and Elizabeth, everything. Third in the Birthday series.
1. Chapter 1

For Karenza, for her birthday.

* * *

Chapter 1

"So then I said to him 'why don't you _mind_ your own business?' Get it? Mind? Cuz he was a mind reader? Get it?" the Doctor looked eagerly at his audience, but neither of them were laughing. In fact, they were both giving him blank expressions as they leaned against the railing of the TARDIS's brand new, slightly steampunk, control room interior.

Both Jenna and Elizabeth, erstwhile librarians and companions extraordinaire, looked nonplussed at his sad attempt at a joke. He may have changed from the skinny man in the brown coat who had blown up their library to a gawky man in suspenders and a bow tie, but he still made lousy puns.

"That one is so bad you don't even need to put a quarter in the pun jar," Elizabeth deadpanned.

"Oh no," said Jenna. "It was so bad he needs to put a dollar in the pun jar. Extra surcharge for being so cheesy."

"Come on!" the Doctor objected. "That was funny!"

"What, did your new regeneration forget to grow a new sense of humour?" Jenna asked.

"Seriously, Doctor, that was a really lousy joke," Elizabeth agreed. "Can't you do better than that?"

"It was funny at the time," the Doctor grumbled. "I guess you had to have been there."

"We _could_ have been there," said Elizabeth. "Except that you dropped us off for one day – _one day_ – to do our laundry and feed Jenna's cat, and when you come back to get us you'd regenerated. And had a whole new companion. I can't believe you'd do that to us!"

The Doctor fiddled uncomfortably with his bowtie.

"Yes, well… sorry about that, girls. It wasn't on purpose. I just sort of… died. You know how that is. I didn't plan on it happening, really I didn't. And then I met Amelia, and then I couldn't leave the little girl, could I? She was waiting for me! And she really did help me a lot when I crash landed. Except that she wasn't a little girl any more, and she had a crack in her wall that was following us. But I came back for you, didn't I? In the end? Don't I get points for that?"

He looked at both girls slightly desperately, willing them to understand his predicament.

"Do you think we should forgive him?" Jenna asked.

Elizabeth tapped the side of her chin.

"I'd consider it. Maybe. He _did_ give us quite a scare when he stepped out of the TARDIS looking completely different."

The Doctor ran a hand through his already floppy hair, making it even more rumpled.

"I said I was sorry," he said imploringly.

Elizabeth laughed softly.

"Aw, this version of you is all cute when he's flustered. Your ears go all pink."

"Does that mean you forgive me?" the Doctor asked.

Elizabeth couldn't help laughing at his sad-puppy face.

"I guess so," she said.

The Doctor brightened immediately, slinging his arms around both the girls' shoulders and hugging them to him in an exuberant show of affection.

"There's my girls," he said warmly. "I knew you wouldn't be too hard on me. I was going to come back for you straight away after I regenerated, I swear. But then I got caught up with Amy and the Pandorica, and the cracks in the universe, and the silence, and… it's a long story."

"Aren't they all," Jenna said, rolling her eyes. She slipped out from under his arm to lean against the TARDIS console, letting herself look around the much larger space. The TARDIS had changed since they had last been in it. A change that Jenna personally approved of. "Like the redesign, though. It's pretty cool."

The TARDIS sang her pleasure at Jenna's compliment into their minds.

The Doctor patted the TARDIS's console, and looked around the space with satisfaction.

"I like it too. Loads more buttons and levers to play with. And look over here. A typewriter!"

"Speaking of buttons," said Jenna, who had now moved to the other side of the console. "This one is flashing."

"Oh?" the Doctor moved around to where she was standing, scrutinizing the flashing button. Frowning, he punched several keys on the typewriter, which made an old fashioned clicking noise as he pressed each one. The screen above it lit up, showing a simple typed message.

_Sweetie, I'm feeling peckish. Care for a dinner out? 32.46. 492. Alpha. XOXO River_

The Doctor sighed.

"I suppose that means she wants me to break her out of prison again."

Elizabeth and Jenna traded curious looks.

"_Who_ is River?" Jenna asked, voicing the thought in both their minds.

The Doctor made a face.

"She's someone I've met. Will meet. It's all very confusing. Our time lines are a little tangled and tricky to work out. Lately she's been calling me to pick her up from all over the galaxy. Look at that! Coordinates. River," he said sternly, addressing the screen. "I'm a Time Lord, not a taxi service."

The screen wiped clean of its message, replaced by a single red heart, which stood out starkly against the white of the screen, as if in answer to his rant. The Doctor sighed heavily.

"Fine, fine. I'm coming. Stay where you are," he said, addressing the screen again. "But if this is another prison break, so help me, River…"

He wandered away, muttering darkly under his breath.

It only took one exchanged look for Elizabeth and Jenna to burst into hushed giggles. They leaned together, their eyes still on the heart on the screen.

"What do you say, the Doctor's finally found a woman who can keep up with him?" Jenna asked.

Elizabeth shook her head.

"No way. Not possible. The Doctor's so not like that."

"Did you see how flustered he got when she called?" Jenna laughed. "I bet my last dime they're a couple."

"Ten dollars and full access to the closet for a week?" Elizabeth suggested.

Jenna laughed.

"Raising the stakes are we? You're on. They are so a couple."

"No way. Elizabeth said. "The Doctor does not _do_ couple. He's anti-domestic, remember?"

"She's whistling for him, and he's coming!" Jenna reminded her friend. "If that's not serious whip-age, I don't know what is."

"But he's the Doctor," said Elizabeth. "No way someone's ball-and-chaining the Doctor. He doesn't do domestic." But she sounded a little less convinced than she was before.

"Listen, girls," said the Doctor from the other end of the console. "Do you mind if we stop off for a little while? I have to go pick up an old friend."

Both Jenna and Elizabeth had matching grins as they nodded. This was their chance to settle their bet.

"Sure Doctor, we can go pick up the Misses," Jenna said boldly.

The Doctor winced, but didn't correct her, merely entering the new coordinates into the TARDIS's flight centre, and pulling the lever down. The familiar grinding sound filled the room, and the TARDIS took off, spiraling out into the void. From long habit, Jenna and Elizabeth clutched the railing to prevent themselves from falling as their ship hurtled through time and space to the coordinates River had sent.

* * *

The blue police box made a relatively graceful landing. Graceful in that none of the occupants ended up on the floor. Elizabeth clutched her railing tightly until the shaking stopped, but Jenna, with a grin, let go fairly early on. She almost always did this. She took a wide stance, and spread her arms out, as if riding the currents. As the TARDIS rattled to a stop, she tucked her arms in, grinning widely.

"You have way too much fun doing that," Elizabeth chuckled.

Jenna shrugged, offering no apology for her behavior.

"TARDIS surfing is fun."

The Doctor, not noticing their antics, marched to the TARDIS door and threw it open wide. Outside, the sound of gunfire could be clearly heard. A women in a plain gray jumpsuit came sprinting around the corner, her sandy brown curls bouncing behind her as she turned to shoot a compression rifle over her shoulder. Two men in uniform were coming after her, both with guns of their own aimed at her as they fired off round after round. As the woman saw the TARDIS, her mouth widened into a grin, and she darted forward towards it. The Doctor stepped out of the way with a resigned look on his face as she rushed in through the doors. She didn't stop after she got through the doors, but continued to race up the ramp to the main console, where her fingers flew over the keys of the control panel. The familiar sound of the TARDIS taking off echoed around the large control room.

"Hello to you, too," said the Doctor, still facing the closed wooden doors.

"I'm glad you dropped by, Sweetie," panted the woman. "It would have been rather difficult to explain if I had been running towards that area for no reason."

"Why is it, River, that I'm always breaking you out of prison?" The Doctor demanded, coming up the ramp to the main console with his arms crossed over his chest.

The woman, River, grinned broadly.

"Spoilers," she said. She came forward, her arms outstretched, and the Doctor submitted to a hug from her. "Did you miss me?" she asked coyly.

"Yes," said the Doctor. "I rather think I did. Life is never boring with you, is it?"

"Come now, you wouldn't have it any other way," River teased.

Sensing that they had been completely forgotten, Jenna loudly cleared her throat.

"Ah yes," said the Doctor. "Introductions. Jenna, Lizabeth, this is Dr. River Song. River, these are my two companions, Jenna and Elizabeth. I blew up their library."

"Nice to meet you," said River, shaking both their hands. "But what happened to Amy? Last time I saw you two, we had just gotten away from quite a lot of weeping angels."

"Oh yes?" the Doctor said keenly. "That was some time ago for me. You see," he said to the two human girls, "River and I keep meeting out of order. We're never sure what part of our lives we'll be in when we bump into each other." He turned back to River. "Nothing's happened to Amy. That is to say, _something's_ happened to her, but that was more to do with Rory than me."

"Rory?" asked River, raising her eyebrow.

"Amy's brand new husband. I dropped them both off at her house a while ago. Apparently, time radiation isn't very good for a baby before it's born."

River grinned.

"Who knew? Congratulations to Amy and Rory then. So you two are the new companions?"

"Well, technically we're the old companions," replied Elizabeth. "He dropped us off to do our laundry, and when he picked us up he was all new."

River smirked.

"He does that. At least he didn't forget about you. He's been known to do that from time to time."

The Doctor glared at River.

"I've never forgotten you anywhere!" he said indignantly. "And whose side are you on, anyways?"

River laughed, and stretched on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek.

"My own," she said huskily. She slipped away from him, sauntering over to the other side of the console to examine a screen. A Mona Lisa- like smile hovered on her lips.

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at the Doctor, and Jenna bit her lip to hold back her giggles.

"I'm so going to win that bet," Jenna said.

"Hmm?" said the Doctor, looking between his two companions.

They shook their heads, identical expressions of amusement on their faces.

"Nothing," the said together.

The Doctor was saved from answering them by the TARDIS, which chose that moment to let out a whistled alarm.

Glad of the excuse, the Doctor bounded over to the console, stroking it gently with his tapered fingers.

"What's the matter, girl?" he crooned. "Does something hurt? You know I can fix you if you hurt."

"Don't be silly, Doctor. It's just the restaurant locator," said River in an authoritative tone.

The Doctor frowned at her.

"The restaurant locator hasn't worked since the 14th century. Tried to take us to some Celtic beer garden…" He shook his head in disgust

"That's because _I_ tweaked it," River said, winking at Elizabeth, who was standing beside her now. "Every so often a girl needs a couple of glasses of stiff Celtic honey mead. And that was _definitely_ the time for some honey mead, if you know what I mean." She ran her hand consolingly over the console. "Poor girl. He never understands you properly, does he?"

"It's _my_ TARDIS," the Doctor grumbled. "Of course I understand her. We've been together for hundreds of years, I understand her perfectly."

"Of course you do, Sweetie," said River in a placating tone.

Jenna looked at the flashing button.

"So what does this do?"

"It's the restaurant locator. It locates the best restaurant in the universe," said River.

"So this takes us to the best restaurant in the universe with a push of a button?"

"Not the best restaurant in the _whole _universe," the Doctor corrected. "That would take ages to get to. Right to the end of the universe, in fact. No, this button'll take us to the best restaurant this area of space. You should have seen the time it took us to the one right on the edge of the universe. Quite an experience, watching the universe go supernova and start all over again. Not anything I haven't seen, mind you. But a nice place to bring the companions for their first trip. Impressive, and kind of showy. Show them what they're in for."

"How come we got a dragon, then?" Jenna muttered.

"Met an interesting, if rather depressing, robot there once." the Doctor continued to ramble, ignoring Jenna's interruption. "His ship was one of the most interesting things I've seen in a long while. Infinitely interesting, in fact." He turned back to the button, regarding it fondly. "Handy little thing, isn't it? It came with my new taste buds."

"Very handy," agree River. "Because right now I'm starving. I could use something to eat. Prison food is _not _very nice, and I would appreciate the best restaurant in this area of space. Want to push it?" she asked Elizabeth.

Elizabeth grinned.

"I've been warned the dire consequences of pushing random buttons in the TARDIS," she said. "You never know what's going to happen. Which is why, as a rule, I always do it."

Reaching out, Elizabeth gave the button a firm push.

River grinned.

"Oh, I like her," she said.

The TARDIS groaned to life, hurtling through the void towards the best restaurant in the universe. A loud, jarring _thud_ indicated that it had landed.

"I told you, you can use the blue dampers and it won't do that," River said.

The Doctor ignored her entirely.

"Ok, old girl" he said to the TARDIS. "Let's see where it brought us this time."

"Don't you know?" Jenna asked.

The Doctor shook his head.

"It picked up the signal while we were in the void. Could be any time, any place, any where in the universe. Anywhere at all. Fabulously exotic locations on stunning planets in far flung corners of space where they serve cuisine that you've never dreamed of. Why don't you go check?"

Jenna grinned, and strode down the ramp to the wooden doors. She threw them open wide to see the fabulously exotic landscape that she had been promised. By standing there, she blocked out the view from the others standing on the raised console platform. She stood frozen in the doorway, her mouth opening and shutting but no words coming out.

"What is it?" Elizabeth asked, her curiosity getting the better of her. "Where are we?"

"You've got to be kidding me!" Jenna groaned, leaning her forehead against the TARDIS door. "This is so unfair."

Elizabeth came to stand behind Jenna, peering over her shoulder.

The scene in front of them was an utterly mundane, utterly familiar one, a sight that up until recently Jenna had seen every day. Bayview Avenue, Toronto.

It was Jenna's street.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The Doctor peered over the two girls' shoulders.

"Oh look. We're back where we started!"

Jenna glared at him.

"You know very well this is the street I live on! I can even see my apartment building from here!" She waved an angry finger out of the TARDIS door.

The Doctor shrugged.

"Can I help it if the best restaurant this side of the universe happens to be on the street where you live? Why didn't you say anything before? You either are very impolite or very imperceptive not to have mentioned this place to me when I first picked you two up."

Beside him, Elizabeth started giggling.

"What's going on here?" River asked from the depths of the TARDIS. "What's the delay?"

"The Doctor brought us right back where we started," Jenna huffed.

"Really?" River asked with interest. "Can I see?"

They all exited the TARDIS, whose doors closed automatically behind them. River looked around, clearly fascinated. She stared with unabashed interest at the cars as they went whizzing past, and the various people as they walked down the sidewalk who completely ignored the blue phone box parked unobtrusively beside the bus shelter.

"So this is the twenty first century, is it?" she said. "I've always been interested in this century. So much is changing right at this very moment. You know, I went on the most interesting dig where we uncovered the remains of a large copper statue on the eastern seaboard of the United American Confederation. And we thought that the Liberty Statue was a myth!"

"Yes, yes, the twenty first century is when everything changes," the Doctor muttered, waving his hand dismissively.

"_You_ may not think it's very interesting, but in my century it's looked back on as a golden age," River replied.

The Doctor stuck his tongue out, tasting the air.

"Yup. Early twenty first century alright. I can tell by all the pollution in the air. In later centuries they clean that all up. It's about two weeks before you two came travelling with me, I'd say."

Jenna started.

"You mean there's still a version of me running around here? That might be a problem. I _do_ live around here."

"Hmm," said the Doctor. "It's never nice running into yourself. Nobody likes to see the back of their own head. It's never pretty to see the back of your own head. There was this one time…"

River's stomach gave an impatient growl.

"As fun as this conversation is, I'm starving," she reminded them. "And this _is_ the best restaurant in the universe." She waved her hand towards the sign just a little ahead of them.

Both Jenna and Elizabeth looked up at the sign River was indicating. Jenna stifled a surprised laugh.

"I come to this place all the time!" she said. "It's got really great sushi."

"The best in the universe, apparently," Elizabeth commented.

Just then, a girl in a gray coat marched up to the group. Wisps of honey coloured hair escaped her short pony tail and fell around her heart-shaped face.

"Where have you guys _been_?" she demanded. "I've been waiting for twenty minutes already!"

Elizabeth was the first to react.

"Karena! It's you!"

"Of course it's me," said Karena. "You know, the girl you were meeting for sushi today? You remember me?"

"Er…" said Jenna. Because honestly, travelling with the Doctor had pushed mundane things like their regular lives right out of their heads, and it was almost hard to remember a time when they hadn't been travelling through time and space in a fantastical blue phone box.

"Of course we remember," Elizabeth said, coming to the rescue. "We were… er… coming to meet you for sushi?"

"We've had been planning this all week. You forgot didn't you?" Karena groaned.

"Um," said Jenna.

"Yeah, yeah. At least you're here now. Who're your friends?" Karena asked, eyeing the Doctor and River curiously. "I've don't think I've met them before. I _can't_ have met them before. _These_ people I would remember."

"I remember this day," said Jenna leaning over to whisper in Elizabeth's ear. "We were supposed to meet Karena after work for a de-stressing sushi date, but she never showed."

"And then the next day, she wouldn't talk about it," said Elizabeth. "Just said we'd understand some day and then refused to say anything else about it at all. It was totally weird."

"I guess today's the day," said Jenna. "I guess we're finding out why she wouldn't talk about it now.

Elizabeth shook her head.

"That's too wibbly wobbly for my poor brain. All this time travel stuff gives me a headache."

Karena was looking between her two friends, trying to understand their conversation.

"Huh?" she said eloquently. "What's up with you guys? You seem… different."

Jenna and Elizabeth both began to talk at once, their sentences seeming to overlap one another.

"We're not different..."

"… we're just the same as…"

"… we've always been. It's just that…"

"… it's been longer than you think…"

"… since you last saw us."

Karena held up her hand.

"Whoa, whoa. One at a time, please. And who's the guy with the bowtie?"

The Doctor took that as his cue. He stepped forward, sticking his hand out.

"I'm the Doctor," he said. "And this is my friend River. I'm an old friend of Jenna and Elizabeth's. We've known each other… well, since two weeks from now and the eleventh century. But no matter. I'm sorry, but I'm the reason these two are late. We bumped into each other and were catching up."

While Team TARDIS was perfectly used to the Doctor babbling on, Karena seemed a little lost.

"We're old friends," River clarified. "We held these two up. Sorry about that."

Karena nodded in comprehension.

"That's what I said," scowled the Doctor.

"No," said River, "That's what you were trying to say, only you muddled it up. Like usual."

"I don't blame you if you were late for him," said Karena to Jenna. "I'd be late for him too. He's a total cutie."

The Doctor scowled, and much to his dismay the tips of his ears turned an unflattering shade of pink.

"You're blushing, dear," River stage-whispered to him. Which, of course, caused him to turn even pinker.

"I'm not!" He whispered back furiously. He cleared his throat, and said in a louder voice. "I'm entirely sorry. Let me take you all to dinner as an apology."

"With what money?" River asked sweetly.

The Doctor frowned at her.

"Fine. River is taking you out then."

"Guess I deserved that," River said with a grin.

"So that's settled," said the Doctor. "Excellent." He dug around in the pocket of his tweed jacket for a few moments, poking into various spaces before emerging triumphant with a pair of chopsticks between his fingers. He brandished them with a grin. "I'm prepared!"

The chopsticks, as could be seen when the Doctor stopped waving them around, weren't like ordinary chopsticks. They were slender and pale, with swirling Gallifreyan letters down the side instead of Chinese ones. At their tips they glowed blue.

"… Are those what I think they are?" Elizabeth asked.

"They sure are!" said the Doctor with relish. "Sonic chopsticks!"

River rolled her eyes.

"Don't encourage him," she said. "Please, please don't encourage him."

"What happens if you do?" Karena asked curiously.

River sighed dramatically.

"Those are what happens," she waved her hands towards the sonic chopsticks, which the Doctor was twirling between his fingers with obvious glee. "The last time I let him sonic stuff, that's what happened. Also, the sonic toaster. I'm warning you, don't even _try_ to make toast it in," she lowered her voice to a dramatic whisper. "It's not pretty when they blow."

The Doctor frowned.

"River," he said. "I _love_ my sonic toaster. It's dead useful."

"As what? A weapon?" River asked, shaking her head at him.

"You never let me have any fun," the Doctor sighed dramatically.

River smirked.

"Yes, dear," she said, patting his shoulder condescendingly.

Jenna gave Elizabeth a significant look, which Elizabeth decided to ignore.

"So, what does everyone say about getting a table inside?" asked the Doctor, breaking the momentary lapse in conversation. "I know I'm excited to try the best sushi in the universe." He pushed open the door, walking through the narrow entrance to the restaurant. "You know, there was this time I had sushi with the Emperor of Japan. Interesting fellow. Alien, of course. But then, they all were. Why do you think they segregated themselves like that? A prehensile tail isn't easy to hide."

A tall Japanese waitress showed them to an empty table, and handed them their menus. They ordered tea, and in a moment she was back, placing the handle-less cups on the table in front of each person.

"So how did you meet?" Karena asked, looking between the Doctor on one side of the table, and Jenna opposite him.

"It's rather a long story," the Doctor said, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly.

"He blew up the library…" Elizabeth interrupted with a grin.

"For the last time, it wasn't _me _who blew it up," the Doctor said, a grin beginning on his face.

"… Nobody believes that, Sweetie…" interjected River.

"… and he asked us if we wanted to go travelling with him," finished Elizabeth.

"And we met a dragon," Jenna added, smiling slightly.

Karena blinked.

"Wait, what?" she said. "_The library blew up_? When did this happen?"

"Actually," said the Doctor. "Technically it hasn't yet. But it will. Has. It's all very confusing."

Karena didn't seem to be able to process this speech. She turned to Jenna with a look of utter perplexity on her face.

"Is there still a library or not?" she asked.

Jenna nodded.

"As of now, yes."

Karena blew out a sigh of relief.

"Good. Cuz I really need to study for my exam, and I'd be really annoyed with you blew stuff up without me."

The Doctor snorted into his green tea.

"Oh, I like her," he said, grinning widely as he looked Karena up and down. "She knows how to do things properly."

Everyone was spared from answering this pronouncement with the return of the waitress.

"Ready to order?" she asked, her Japanese accent obvious but not overpowering. The Doctor smiled at her.

"What would you recommend?" he asked.

Her face lit up at once.

"You speak Japanese!" she said, delighted. She switched back to English. "Jenna, you didn't tell me you had a friend who spoke Japanese!"

"I didn't know," Jenna demurred.

"… He's not speaking Japanese…" Karena said, the line of confusion between her brows again.

"Er, yes I am," said the Doctor. "Sort of. So tell me, what's good here?"

While the waitress poured forth a rush of excited praise for someone who could speak her native language, and then went on to explain every item on the menu, River turned back to the other girls.

"He'll be at it all day," she said, smiling. "He loves food."

"It's true," Elizabeth confirmed. "He's got whole cupboards full of new food that he hasn't tried yet. Says his taste buds are all new this time around, and everything tastes different."

Jenna snorted.

"He had an oral fixation before, too."

"So the waitresses know you here?" River asked, smiling at Jenna.

Jenna blushed under her scrutiny.

"Yeah, sort of. I come here a lot. I usually stopped off on my way home from school or work, and every time I'm waiting for my take out order, I talk to the staff."

"So you weren't kidding when you said you were a regular," River said, smiling.

Jenna smiled back

"Nope. The Doctor really hit it in one when he said this was the best place in the universe. It's great here."

The waitress left the table, and the Doctor turned back to his companions.

"What did you order us, Sweetie?" River asked.

The Doctor grinned.

"Sushi. Lots and lots of sushi. A boat full of sushi! Isn't that the most fantastic idea you've ever heard of? A boat of sushi?"

"Er… if you say so," said Jenna.

The Doctor grinned widely.

"What _will_ you people invent next?" he asked, shaking his head.

River just patted his shoulder again.

"Don't worry," said the Doctor. "I ordered other things as well. Rice and tempura and salads. I want to try everything out with my new taste buds."

"Haven't you ever had sushi before?" asked Karena.

"Well yes," admitted the Doctor. "But never with these taste buds. They're all new, you see. It's like I'm tasting things for the first time."

"It's like he's a child all over again," Elizabeth confided. "He spits stuff out and makes faces and complains."

"You would too if things you liked before you don't like any more!" the Doctor objected. "Like marmalade. Used to love that stuff. Now I can't stand it."

"That was a great face you made, when you tried it again," giggled Elizabeth. Jenna nodded fervently.

"Oh yea," she said. "Classic."

Just then, the waitress returned, carrying a wooden boat dish piled high with sushi. She had also brought with her the sushi chef.

"He speaks Japanese!" she said, excitedly.

"Er, hello there," the Doctor said, smiling at the large man, whose dark hair was pushed back from his forehead with a white band. Over his black uniform, he wore a white apron.

While the Doctor and the sushi chef chatted, the others at the table began to eat. Everything was delicious, of course.

"So the Doctor knows Japanese?" Karena asked around a mouthful of tuna maki.

"He travels a lot," Jenna lied smoothly.

"That's how I met him," said River. "Travelling."

"Have you travelled far with him?" Karena asked politely.

River gave a small smile.

"Farther than you can imagine. Farther than he can imagine yet, either."

"We've travelled with him a bit too," Elizabeth said, snagging a piece of vegetable tempura with her chop sticks and dipping it in soy sauce before taking a bite.

"I didn't know you two were travelling," said Karena, frowning. "What about school, and your jobs at the library?"

"It's a bit confusing," Jenna admitted. "The Doctor, he's not like an ordinary traveler. He doesn't just travel in space, he travels in time as well."

Karena was so surprised by this pronouncement that she dropped her piece of sushi into her water glass. It landed with a wet splash, going completely unnoticed.

"He _what_?"

"Space. Time. It's all pretty fluid for the Doctor," said Jenna.

Karena looked between Jenna and Elizabeth's faces, both of which were serious and earnest. Then, she burst out laughing.

"Oh man!" she said. "You almost had me there! Good one, guys!"

It was evident that Karena wasn't going to believe them no matter what they said.

"Haha, yeah, we almost got you," Elizabeth said weakly, shooting Jenna a pointed look and a shrug.

The voice from the kitchen called the sushi chef back to his duties, leaving the Doctor free. He turned back to the table with anticipation.

"How is everything?" he asked.

"Delicious," said River with her mouth full of avocado roll.

"Oh good," said the Doctor, grinning. He reached into the boat, and picked up a piece of sushi with his fingers. It was half way to his mouth before he caught River's disapproving glare. He lowered the sushi to his plate.

Without a word, River handed him a pair of wooden chopsticks, which he accepted meekly.

"Thank you," he asked.

Karena looked at the wooden sticks the Doctor was maneuvering between his fingers.

"I thought you had your own chopsticks," she said.

"Oh, those are only for sushi emergencies," the Doctor said, picking the piece up between the wooden implements in his hand.

"Does that happen to you a lot?" Karena asked. "Sushi emergencies?"

Jenna grinned.

"You'd be surprised."

The Doctor brought the piece of sushi up to his eyes, staring at it intensely.

"Is something wrong with it?" River asked, popping another piece in her mouth.

"Hmm," said the Doctor. He sniffed the offending piece, then his tongue darted out as he gave it a furtive lick.

"What on earth is he doing?" Karena asked.

"He thinks he's smart when he does stuff like that," said River. "In reality, it's just disgusting. Stop playing with your food, dear."

"Hm," said the Doctor. He lowered his chopsticks, and popped the sushi piece into his mouth. "Mmmm…" he hummed at the taste.

"Is he always like that?" Karena asked.

"Yes," said Elizabeth, River, and Jenna at once.

The Doctor swallowed.

"I'll have you know that I…" he stopped mid sentence, his features frozen in a mock frown. And then, he tumbled out of his chair to the floor, unconscious.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

River was the first one to react.

"Doctor!" she cried, jumping out of her seat and rushing to his side. He had gone completely limp, as still and silent as if he were dead. Frantically, River felt for the two spots on his chest, and then sighed in relief. She could feel his double heartbeat under her fingers.

"He's still alive," she said. "Thank goodness for that. I'd hate to have to get used to _another_ one of him. I was just getting used to this one."

Jenna crouched over him.

"What do we do?" she asked, brushing some of his unruly hair off of his forehead, which was hot and clammy.

"Do you think the sushi was poisoned?" Elizabeth asked. "We've all been eating it. Why aren't we sick?"

"The Doctor's not exactly human," Jenna reminded her friend.

"We've got to get him back to the TARDIS medical bay," said River. "It's the only place in the universe any more where a Time Lord can be diagnosed. We'll all have to grab a part of him to get him out of here. Karena?"

Karena, who had been standing off to the side, twisting her hands together in worry, jumped at being addressed.

"Yes?"

"We'll need your help. Welcome to Team TARDIS. Now grab an arm."

"Where are we taking him?" Karena asked. "Shouldn't we call a hospital?"

Jenna shook her head.

"A hospital won't help. We're taking him home."

"We're going to carry him all the way to Jenna's apartment? That's two blocks from here and he's _heavy_."

In spite of the situation, Elizabeth smiled.

"You wouldn't believe where we're going."

Now that they had maneuvered the Doctor upright, River draped his limp arm over her shoulder, taking his full weight on her. She grunted.

"Sweetie, you know I love you, but from now on, no more jammy dodgers. I agree with Karena, you're _heavy._"

The sushi chef that the Doctor had been talking to rushed over.

"Is he alright?" he asked, peering with concern into the Doctor's face.

"Oh yes," said River. "Just a little too much sake. Can't hold it to save his life. Thanks, though."

"You come back soon, Jenna," the waitress said, smiling slightly.

Jenna gave her a distracted wave.

River tossed some bills on the table, and started hauling the Doctor's limp body out of the restaurant. Elizabeth ducked under the Doctor's other arm, helping River support his weight.

As soon as they were outside, Jenna started looking around for the TARDIS.

"We _did _leave it around here, didn't we?" she asked, concerned.

"Leave what?" asked Karena. "Shouldn't we be getting him back to your apartment, Jenna?"

Jenna ignored her, instead pointing across the street.

"There it is."

Standing unobtrusively on the sidewalk, as if it belonged there, was the familiar blue police box. Karena stared at it as they rushed across the street.

"Has that always been there?" she asked. "I feel like it's always been there, but I know it hasn't. And what's a Police Public Call box anyways?"

"It's like a phone booth," Elizabeth said, panting slightly under the strain of the Doctor's dead weight.

Jenna ran ahead, fishing her key out of her pocket and inserting it in the lock. The door opened with a _click_, and she heard the familiar hum of the TARDIS's engines in her mind. Right now it was humming a concerned song for the Doctor.

"We don't know what's wrong with him," Jenna answered the psychic question, laying a comforting hand on the TARDIS's wooden front door. "We're going to bring him to the medical bay to diagnose him."

The TARDIS whistled in agreement. Jenna held the door while Elizabeth and River hauled the Doctor through it into the main console room of the TARDIS. Karena came last.

"We're not all going to fit in that tiny box," she was saying. "Besides, I have a cell phone. We don't need to use the phone booth to… whoa."

She had just stepped through the doors into the lighted warmth of the TARDIS. She blinked at its size.

"But… how?" she whispered. She took several steps backwards, back into the dark of the evening. With narrowed eyes, she peered at the TARDIS's small outer conventions. Then, as if expecting something new to happen, she stepped into the doors again. "No way. It's…"

In spite of the situation, Jenna smiled.

"Go on, say it," she said. "It's bigger on the inside."

"I was going to say _awesome_, but that's a good way of putting it, too," Karena admitted. "How does it work?"

Jenna shrugged.

"No idea. The Doctor could probably tell you, but you wouldn't understand a word he said. Something about it occupying two spaces in time at once. To tell you the truth, I wasn't really listening at that point."

"Close the door, you two," River called. "You're letting in a draught."

Jenna swung the doors shut, and tugged on Karena's arm.

"There'll be more time for exploring later," she said. "Come on."

Jenna led Karena through the main console room, and through a corridor branching off it. The TARDIS kindly swung doors open for them as the followed the laboured footsteps of the two companions holding the Doctor. Inside Jenna's mind, the TARDIS moaned with concern for her oldest friend.

Jenna and Karena turned the corner, and walked through a set of heavy wooden doors. Inside, the space widened out to a large room complete with several beds and lots of beeping equipment. River and Elizabeth were just easing the Doctor onto one of the beds, and old fashioned one with a high headboard.

"How do we find out what's wrong with him?" Elizabeth asked, looking worriedly at a piece of decidedly Victorian looking medical equipment.

"Here," River said, handing her a wire with a pad at the end. "Attach this to his temple. I'll attack the other to his chest, and hopefully the TARDIS can diagnose him from there." River looked down at the Doctor. "Sorry, Sweetie," she said. "But I'm going to have to undo your bowtie."

With nimble fingers, she tugged the red bow tie out of its tie, pulling it loose and unbuttoning the Doctor's shirt. She attached the sensor to the middle of his chest, and pushed down lightly so that a small light in the centre of the pad lit up, while Elizabeth did the same to the one on his temple. Immediately information began to flow across what looked like an old television set on a wheeled cart.

"As I feared," River said, peering at the screen. "It's some sort of toxin that affects Time Lords, but not humans. It's spreading all through his system."

"So you're definitely not a Time Lord, then," Jenna muttered. "I'll file that away for further reference."

"Treatments?" Elizabeth said, pointedly ignoring her best friend's comment.

"We're lucky. In high doses, this toxin would have killed him. He got a very mild dose, so he should be alright, but we need to increase his electrolytes. The TARDIS suggests…" River consulted the screen, then laughed. "Of course it does. The TARDIS suggests tea."

There was a _ding_, and a small cupboard opened to reveal a dumb waiter. Inside was a steaming cup of tea.

"Wow," said Karena, impressed. "What service."

"The TARDIS wants to help," Jenna said. She walked over to the cupboard and picked up the cup, gingerly bringing it to River.

River took it with a nod of thanks.

"Prop him up," she instructed.

Elizabeth propped the Doctor up while River blew on the tea to make it less hot. Then, carefully, she opened the Doctor's mouth and poured some of the tea into it.

The Doctor's eyes shot open at once, and he spluttered on the tea.

"No," said River sharply. "Don't you dare fight it. You're drinking at least two cups before I let you get off this bed.

The Doctor sat up, and looked down at himself.

"Why is my shirt off?" he asked. He reached around his neck, and winced as he found the shreds of his bow tie. He glared accusingly at River.

"Sorry, Sweetie, I had to," she said.

The Doctor plucked the sensor off his chest, and began buttoning his shirt.

"There's one on your forehead too," Elizabeth said, moving forward to remove it.

"Thanks," said the Doctor, accepting the tea cup from River and sipping it. He closed his eyes, enjoying the flavour. "What happened? No, don't tell me. I know what happened. I was poisoned, wasn't I?"

"That's right," said Jenna. "It was a toxin that affected you, but not any of us."

"Yeah, why was that again?" Karena asked. "What makes you different from the rest of us?"

"Would you like the list alphabetically or topically?" the Doctor asked.

River smacked him lightly in the arm.

"Don't patronize the girl. She's already seen the TARDIS, there's no need to be coy."

The Doctor shrugged, and took a long sip of his tea before responding.

"The reason it knocked me out and not you lot is because it wasn't a human poison. It was a Gallifrayan one, and a deadly one at that."

"And you must have gotten a very low dose," Elizabeth said, peering at one of the monitors. "You were only knocked out, not killed."

The Doctor nodded.

"I don't think it was intended to kill me," he agreed. "Otherwise the person feeding it to me would have known that such a small dose would only send me into a coma. It didn't kill me. Which is good. I was just getting used to this body. But it didn't hurt you," turning back to Karena, "Because it's not harmful to humans."

"That would make you… not human," said Karena slowly. She backed away from the bed where the doctor was still perched. She cast pleading glances at her two friends, begging them to burst out laughing and proclaim it a joke. She fiddled nervously with the sleeve of her jacket when they did not.

"I'm a Time Lord," the Doctor said in his most gentle and soothing tone. "I'm from another planet."

Karena blinked, as if trying to assess whether he was lying or crazy.

"You know," she said after a moment. "Sunnybrook Hospital is just down the street. You're obviously still suffering from whatever drug you ingested." her voice dropped to a whisper. "They have a nice psych ward there. They can help you."

Instead of answering, the Doctor handed River his now-empty cup, hopped of the bed, and crossed the floor to stand in front of Karena. Before she could react, he grabbed both her hands and placed them on his chest.

"Feel that?" he asked.

Karena's eyes grew huge.

"Woah!" she said. "Two. You've got _two _heartbeats. How are you doing that?"

"Bipulimanry system. I've got two hearts. Can't you feel them beating out that samba?"

"One of them's slower than the other," Karena said.

"Let me see that," River said, coming over. Karena moved out of the way so River could place her hands on the Doctor's chest. "She's right. One's slower."

She raised her fist, and knocked the Doctor on the crown of his head once with a sharp blow.

"Ow!" the Doctor complained. "Did you hit the cranial nerve?"

River put a hand back on his chest.

"Yup. The heart's rebooted, it's beating normally."

"Oh good," said the Doctor. "And also, _ow_." He rubbed the top of his head gingerly.

"Oh stop being such a baby," River replied.

The Doctor rubbed his head again, turning to Karena.

"Do you believe me?"

She nodded.

"Yes. I mean, I think so. You're really an alien?"

"And my box really does travel in time and space, yes. Welcome aboard, Karena."

Karena ran a critical eye over the Doctor's skinny, floppy-haired form.

"You're _really_ an alien?" she asked. "You look just like a nerdy human."

"Never mind that," the Doctor replied. "We can talk about my species later. Right now we have more important things to discuss. Like how that waitress knew Jenna by name."

A blush crept up Jenna's neck.

"I come there a lot," she admitted.

"Don't we have more important things to worry about, like why you got poisoned in the first place?" Karena asked.

The Doctor held up his hand.

"Hush, you. My brain needs time to work and it can't if you're asking stupid questions. Come on now Jenna, think. It was more than just that you're a frequent customer. There's something else."

Jenna frowned in concentration.

"Well, they sort of still think I live upstairs."

River blinked.

"What upstairs?"

The Doctor sprang forward, typing into the keypad of the ancient television set so that the picture changed to an image of the busy street outside. The restaurant could clearly be seen.

There was no second floor.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Was there always no second floor?" Karena asked, peering at the screen. "I feel sure there was a second floor on that building the last time we were there."

River punched in some buttons.

"The TARDIS is definitely cutting through some sort of perception filter. It's taking out the bogus second floor, but not showing what's really there instead. It's just leaving it blank."

"I knew something felt strange," the Doctor admitted. "But I thought it was just because I was hungry. I get collywobbles in my tummy when I'm hungry now. It's a new thing. But I must have been sensing the perception field."

"But is there something there or nothing there?" Elizabeth asked, peering at the screen herself.

"Oh, there's something there," River confirmed. "The TARDIS's sensors just can't pick it up. She's getting confused, poor thing." She patted the TARDIS's wall kindly. "She can't sense what's really there, but she can see right through the filter, so she's stuck with putting nothing there."

"It's not your fault," the Doctor said, stroking a wall.

The TARDIS hummed her frustration.

"There has to be a second floor. There's always been a second floor," Jenna argued.

"Has there?" the Doctor asked. "Jenna, how often do you go to that restaurant?"

"All the time," Jenna admitted. "Almost every night, some weeks. I'm not a very good cook, you know."

"Every night?" River asked. "Don't you get sick of it?"

Jenna shrugged.

"No? It's really good."

"Ahah!" the Doctor clapped his hands together, making everyone jump at the sudden noise. "I wasn't being poisoned, at least not directly. That Gallifrayan poison is very addictive to humans, and it was on the food."

Jenna looked horrified.

"I've been eating _poison_?"

"It's not poison to you," the Doctor said consolingly. "Only a very addictive drug."

"I'm addicted to a _drug_?" Jenna demanded, not comforted in the least. "This is horrible. I've been eating a drug on my sushi the whole time. What if I don't even _like_ sushi?"

"Come to think of it," Elizabeth said thoughtfully. "Even _I _was starting to eat the sushi, and I've never liked it before."

Jenna looked genuinely upset.

"Now I don't even know if I like my favorite food or not!" she wailed.

"I identify," said the Doctor. He put a hand on Jenna's shoulder. "Don't worry, when this is all over we'll pop over to Japan and you can find out if you really like sushi or not, alright?"

"Alright," said Jenna, feeling a lot better.

"Now," said the Doctor, turning back to the screen. "It's pretty obvious that something's hiding up on the top of that restaurant. I say we discover what it is. Sonics out, everyone?"

He reached into the inner pocket of his tweed jacket, and pulled out his sonic screwdriver. At the same time, River produced from the pocket of her bomber jacket a small tube.

"Sonic lipstick," she explained to the other companions with a wink.

The Doctor looked at his three other companions.

"Nothing sonic on you?"

Karena looked at him helplessly while the other two shrugged.

"You wouldn't even let us touch your sonic screwdriver," Elizabeth reminded him. "You said we were liable to roast our fingers off."

"Well, never mind that," the Doctor brushed her comment off. "Here, this should work."

He produced from another of his pockets the sonic chopsticks he had had earlier. He gave one to each of the three girls, smiling broadly.

"Didn't you only have two before?" Karena asked.

"You wouldn't believe the things I have in these pockets," the Doctor said mildly.

Karena shrugged, and shoved her chopstick into her back pocket.

"Right, well now that we're all sonic-ed up, let's investigate," said the Doctor.

"Team TARDIS, move out," River summed up.

The Doctor scowled at her.

"I _hate_ that name," he said.

River smiled at him.

"I know," she replied.

* * *

It was decided, after some discussion, that they would attempt to get to the restaurant's top floor through the back stairway, which was located behind the restaurant, beside the patio.

"There's some stairs out back," Jenna said. "We just need to go round the back of the restaurant and go up there."

Karena stared up at the second floor of the shop. It looked so real, so familiar to her. It looked just like every other time that she had seen it, either eating there or walking past. There were even curtains in the windows, though they were drawn. She shook her head.

"If I hadn't seen on the screen that there was no second floor, I'd never believe you," she said. "It looks so real."

"It's meant to," the Doctor said.

They climbed the rather rickety wooden steps at the back of the shop. Elizabeth continued to cast fugitive glances at the patio of the restaurant, as if she expected them to be caught sneaking up the stairs, but no one exited that way. The dark wrapped around them like a cloak, covering them from prying eyes.

The door at the top was locked, but of course that didn't stop the Doctor. He buzzed his sonic screwdriver and the door clicked open.

"You'd think someone who knew about Gallifrayan poisons would know to deadlock seal their door," River whispered.

The Doctor just shrugged.

"They're using it as an addictive additive, not as a poison," he reminded her.

He pushed the door open, and it swung silently on its hinges, opening into a dark yawning space. The Doctor aimed his screwdriver at the ceiling, and lights flickered on.

"Nice place," he said.

As everyone filed in after him, they gasped in surprise. Inside was not a flat, like each of them had been expecting to see. It was a large room, devoid of any furniture except long tables standing in the middle of the space. The walls were white, the floor was white, the tables were white. Scattered across the table nearest the door were sheaves of paper. The Doctor picked one up. He stared at it for a long time before handing it to River.

"Look," he said.

On the page was a spiraling tesseract. The symbol was an elegant scrawl of swirling lines. Both Jenna and Elizabeth recognized it instantly. It was the only language the TARDIS would not translate for them.

"Gallifrayan," Elizabeth breathed.

"But that's impossible," said River. "It's a dead language. You're the only one who speaks it. Well, you and me."

"Unless… River, do you know what this means?" the Doctor said, his back still to her.

"That someone else can speak Gallifrayan, or at least copy it down?"

He turned to River, his eyes shining with a hope so intense it could have broken your heart.

"It means I may not be the last one."

"Doctor…" River said. She laid a gentle hand on his arm. "I don't want you to get your hopes up."

The Doctor waved the paper at her.

"Gallifrayan writing. Only two people in the universe know how to do it, and we're both right here. I didn't write this, and I'm pretty sure you didn't either or you would have said something. So how did this paper get here? There could be another Time Lord out there, River."

Karena, who hadn't been paying attention to the conversation, not knowing the significance of the Gallifrayan writing, had wandered over to the next table. She picked up a glass beaker, examining its contents.

"Hey guys," she called. "Look what I found."

On the table in front of her was spread equipment of various kinds, beakers and pots and Bunsen burners. Inside a vial was a pale orange powder. The Doctor peered at it, but didn't touch it. He buzzed it with his screwdriver, then nodded.

"That's it alright," he said. "It looks like it's being manufactured on a large scale."

Jenna walked the length of the table, examining the pots as she went.

"They must sprinkle the food with it," she said. "But why? Hoping to catch a Time Lord when he comes in for sushi?"

Before anyone could answer, a door at the far end of the room opened, and silhouetted in the doorway was a large man in a white apron. Immediately he pulled out a very large, wickedly sharp looking knife. It was the chef from downstairs.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"You!" the chef cried. "What are you doing here?"

Everyone was frozen in shock for a moment.

Then, as one, all the members of Team TARDIS pulled out their sonic devices. Except for Karena, who had forgotten hers completely. It was still in her back pocket, where she had shoved it.

"Actually, the question is more what _you're_ doing here," the Doctor replied coolly. "In a second floor that's not really a second floor, with a language that doesn't exist any more. And how you got your hands on a Gallifrayan poison? Because you're definitely not Time Lord."

"Mina!" the chef barked.

From behind him came the waitress who had recognized Jenna earlier, her eyes wide with fear as she took in the situation before her.

"Sir?" she asked.

He waved his huge knife at the five assembled people.

"Take those sonic devices off them, and check them for weapons. We don't want any more nasty surprises."

"Ah ah ah," the Doctor said. "Not so fast." He waved his screwdriver around wildly in a threatening manner, jabbing it in the air a few times for effect.

"What are you going to do with that?" the chef sneered. "It's a sonic device, not a weapon."

"Perhaps not," River replied. "But this is." She flicked her wrist, and the top popped off her sonic lipstick, revealing the muzzle of a small but elegant pistol. She aimed it calmly at the chef's head. "I'm a crack shot with this thing. Don't make me kill you."

"River…" the Doctor complained. "You know how I feel about guns."

River shrugged.

"Sorry, Sweetie," she said, not seeming repentant at all.

Instead of looking threatened, the chef laughed.

"I think you'll find that you are surrounded," replied the chef. And sure enough, all around them, emerging from the shadows, were the other staff of the restaurant, all holding wickedly sharp looking knives. One of them appeared out of nowhere quite close to Karena. She let out a shriek of surprise to see such a long knife so close to her, where before there had been no one.

"Put down your weapons," repeated the chef, grinning widely.

Reluctantly, the Doctor and River put down their sonics. Behind them, Elizabeth and Jenna followed suit, placing their sonic chopsticks on the ground.

Mina came forward, gathering the sonic devices.

"Sorry," she whispered to Jenna as she ducked down in front of her to grab the sonic chopstick. "If we don't do what he says, we'll be in tomorrow's sushi."

Jenna gave a quick nod of understanding to Mina. It was obvious the sushi chef was in control, and the frightened waitress wanted no part in this, but was scared for her life.

"Alright then," the Doctor said, holding up his hands to show that they were empty. "You've got us. Now what?"

"Now you will tell me how you got in this lab," said the chef, glaring at the Doctor with baleful eyes.

The Doctor made a face.

"You know all about sonics but you don't deadlock seal your secret lair? That's a bit chancy, isn't it?"

"I wasn't exactly expecting anybody with a sonic device, was I?" the chef replied sourly. "The apes on this planet don't even have space faring craft yet. I wasn't exactly worried about sonic devises." He peered at the Doctor. "You're not from this world. Who are you?"

The Doctor pulled himself up to his full height and straightening his bow tie with one hand.

"I'm the stuff of legends," he replied grandly. "And you tried to poison me. You're not a Time Lord, that much is blindingly obvious. So tell me, where'd you get that powder?"

The chef gave a snort.

"And have you steal my secrets? I don't think so."

"I assure you, I really don't want to recipe to something that will kill me. The question is, where did _you_ get it from?"

"You think you're the only non human on this pathetically defended little backwater planet?" the chef asked. "I found it floating in space, along with those papers over there on the table, several years ago. I've been trying to decipher them ever since. But you know what I learned about that powder? It is highly addictive to the native species of this planet. Wonderful for business, isn't it, Jenna?"

Jenna glared ferociously at him.

"I can't believe you were drugging me this whole time," she spat through clenched teeth. "You didn't know it couldn't kill humans. You could have been poisoning everyone who came into your restaurant."

"You're dosing the food with it," Elizabeth said. "You're making it so people come back to your restaurant over and over again. They can't help themselves."

"It was a simple enough idea," replied the chef. "Make my traditional foods, laced with the compound I found, and nobody can stop eating it. I've almost made enough money to buy my own ship!"

"Traditional foods?" said the Doctor, getting excited suddenly. "Hang on, I know who you are! You're a Gami warrior!"

"A what?" River asked, turning to him in confusion.

"A space samurai," the Doctor explained. "Think ancient Japan, but with space ships and laser shields. They're a wandering race. They float around space in their ships, and occasionally send out raiding parties who do battles to the death with other Gami. Very big on honour. Occasionally a menace, but they mostly leave other species alone and don't bother anyone." He glared at the chef.

The chef snorted in contempt.

"The Gami are all fools. We cannot be wanderers forever. This planet is as good as any, with lots of space and money to be had. If they weren't so blinded by their foolish pride, they would see that."

Jenna turned to Mina.

"Are you a thingy too?" she asked. "An alien?"

Mina shook her head.

"I'm human. I just came here to work. I thought it was nice waitressing job that paid well."

"Silence, you stupid girl!" she chef roared.

Her dark eyes filled with tears and she turned them back to the floor in a gesture of submission.

"Tell me," said the Doctor. "When you found the powder, you didn't see anything else? There wasn't anyone like me there? Any Time Lords?"

The note of hope was back in his voice.

The chef snorted.

"Time Lords? That's a children's story. What do you take me for?"

"You didn't see anything like the letters on the paper?" the Doctor pressed. "No… blue boxes?"

"I don't know what game you're playing with me, Doctor, but I won't fall for it," said the chef. "I found the powder and the papers floating in space. I thought the writing was interesting, and in experimentation with the powder discovered its addictive properties. I realized what my fellow Gami could not – its business value."

The Doctor made a face.

"Yes, yes, you're very good at exploiting people. Congratulations on drugging a large portion of the city and nearly killing me."

The chef glared at him.

"You are very witty, Doctor. Take them to the empty store room, and lock them in. Let's see how witty you can be after a night in the cooler."

* * *

"Well, this is déjà vu, isn't it?" River said gloomily, looking around the small, cold storage room they were imprisoned in. Around them hung huge silver fish on hooks from the ceiling and on the shelves were stacked many cans and boxes. "Dinner. That's all I wanted. Why is it, Doctor, that whenever I got anywhere with you, we end up incarcerated?"

"We _do_ seem to have a knack for getting imprisoned, don't we?" The Doctor answered from his place on the floor, where he had drawn his long legs up so that he rested his chin on his bony knee.

"It's worse than usual lately," River answered. She paused in her pacing in front of the Doctor. "Any ideas on how to get out?"

The Doctor shrugged.

"A few dozen. Most include a paper clip and a wad of gum, neither of which we have. But," Looking behind him at the shelf he was leaning against. "At least we won't starve."

"They _would_ lock us up in cold storage," Karena grumbled. "I hate being cold."

"How are you girls holding up?" the Doctor asked, turning to his companions. Karena was seated across from him, with Elizabeth beside her. Jenna stood in front of the door, jiggling the handle and looking for weak spots.

"We're fine," said Elizabeth, but her teeth were chattering in the cold air. She clamped down hard to try and stop them, but it was no use. Everyone in the room could see her shivering.

"No, you're not," said the Doctor. 'You're freezing." The Doctor got up, and shrugged out of his tweed jacket, draping it over the girl's shoulders. It was much too big for her, and she huddled in it like a blanket. "We can't stay here for much longer. Human bodies weren't built to withstand cold for prolonged periods of time."

"What about you, Doctor?" Elizabeth asked. "Won't you be cold without your jacket?"

The Doctor shook his head.

"Bipulminary system. Two hearts means more bloodflow, means I run hotter than a human."

"In more ways than one," River muttered.

The Doctor shot River a questioning look. She merely winked at him in return.

Jenna paused in her quest to discover the door's weakness to shoot Elizabeth a significant look.

The Doctor turned to Jenna.

"Found anything yet?"

"Not a thing. The stupid lock is rock solid!"

Jenna kicked the door in frustration.

"Ow!" she complained. "Stupid door! If only we had a sonic, we could get out of here in a second. None of these doors are deadlock sealed."

Karena, whose head had been in her hands, looked up sharply.

"Oh! I've just remembered!" she said breathlessly. She scrambled to her feet, and reached into her back pocket. From it she produced a long, willowy object with a blue glowing tip. She held the sonic chopstick in front of her triumphantly.

"Good thing they didn't search us," she said, grinning.

"Karena! You've still got your sonic!" the Doctor crowed, rushing over to her. "Oh, I like you! You're brilliant!"

"I didn't know what to do with it, so I put it in my back pocket before we even came here," Karena admitted. "Good thing I did."

"May I?" asked the Doctor.

Karena handed him her sonic chopstick. He sprinted to the door, buzzing the lock. In a few seconds, the lock clicked open, and the door swung freely on its hinges. He signaled for his companions.

"Alright, here's what we're going to do," he said. "River, you get the rest of the gang to safety. I'm going to use this sonic to find my screwdriver, then…"

"Nuh huh," said Jenna, interrupting him. "No way."

"What?" he blinked, not used to being interrupted mid-explanation.

"I said, no way," Jenna replied. "We're not getting to safety. We're staying with you and helping with whatever you've got planned."

"We didn't sign on to be safe," Elizabeth reminded him. She slipped his jacket off her shoulders and held it out to him with one crooked finger.

"I'm not backing out either," Karena added her voice to the others.

River was grinning.

"Looks like you've got a full-scale mutiny on your hands, Doctor," she said.

The Doctor looked between their faces, then smiled.

"Alright, we _all_ go and find the sonics. Then I'm going to see if I can contact the Gami. This guy has created enough trouble on my favorite planet."

He twisted the sonic chopstick in his hand, activating it.

"I'm going to try and find my screwdriver with this. When pointed in the right direction, this sonic should resonate with my screwdriver and point the way."

He walked in a tight circle, pointing the chopstick in all directions. When he was half way through his turn, the chopstick glowed with a bright, steady blue.

"This way," he said. "Follow me."

The corridor was dark as they crept down it single file. The Doctor buzzed the sonic chopstick every once in a while, checking to see that they were going in the right direction. After a series of twists and turns, they finally arrived in an open space, smaller than the one with the tables of powder that they had seen when they first come onto the second floor. Above, there was a domed glass ceiling, showing that the sun was coming up outside. The room was made up like a garden, with small trees and a pond. Across an ornate bridge, on a bench underneath a small tree, was their sonics.

The Doctor rushed forward, snatching his screwdriver up and cradling it like a lost pet. He stroked its side affectionately.

"There you are," he said.

"Would you and the screwdriver like some time alone?" River teased.

The Doctor glared at her, and flipped her the sonic lipstick.

"And if I see that gun again, I will be very upset," he said.

River nodded.

"Is that I 'yes Doctor I won't use it again', or a "yes Doctor you _will_ be upset?" the Doctor asked.

River grinned.

"Yes."

Scowling, the Doctor handed the chopsticks back to his two companions.

"You'd better hold on to these," he said. "Just in case. As long as you don't pull out any guns either. I _hate_ guns."

Elizabeth shook her head.

"Nope, no guns here."

"Good. At least _some_ of my companions understand the rules."

River just grinned in response.

Jenna gave Elizabeth a look.

"I'm telling you, they're married."

"They're flirting," Elizabeth replied. "That's not the same thing."

"Alright, so how do we get out of here?" Karena asked, raising her voice for everyone else in the room to hear.

"More to the point, how do we stop the sou chef from hades from using a Gallifrayan poison to addict humans to his food?" the Doctor said. "As the last Time Lord, it's my responsibility to see my technology doesn't fall into the wrong hands."

"First things first," River reminded him. "We have to escape."

"Oh, I don't think so," said a voice from the door. They all looked up to see the chef standing in the doorway, holding several knives.

"Do you not know how to make an entrance any other way?" the Doctor complained.

The chef didn't answer. With alarming speed, he spun his hands out, sending four razor sharp knives hurtling towards the group.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Duck!" yelled the Doctor.

"_That's_ your brilliant solution?" Karena shrieked. Elizabeth grabbed her arm, and pulled her out of the way of the oncoming knives.

"I'm working on it!" the Doctor sniped back.

He aimed his sonic screwdriver at the knives, resonating them so that they veered off their course, striking the wall just to the left of the group.

With a sinister grin, the chef flung out his arm again, releasing another set of knives. They hurtled towards the group with deadly precision.

"River, the gun," the Doctor said quickly.

River glanced at him, then saw his eyes flicker to the oncoming knives. Nodding with understanding, River twisted her sonic lipstick so that the muzzle of her small gun appeared once again. With eerie accuracy, she fired off four blasts, each hitting a knife and deflecting it away from Team TARDIS. They clattered uselessly on the tiled floor of the room.

"For a moment there, I thought you were telling me to shoot _him_," River said. "And that's most out of character for you."

The Doctor gave her a bald look.

"When have I ever told you to shoot people?" he asked."

River hummed her agreement.

"Yes, I thought not. You always did take the pacifist position. Funny, considering how much trouble you get in."

"Maybe I get in that trouble _because_ I don't like killing," the Doctor answered.

"It's a pity you know everything," the chef lamented, drawing the gang's attention back to him. "I hate to kill you. It's fascinating to see how your mind works. I can almost see the cogs turning in there. But I can't have you blabbing my secret to the rest of the universe, so kill you I must."

"Doctor, whatever amazing plan you're concocting in that brilliant head of yours, now would be the time to do it," Jenna said tersely from behind him. Her eyes were trained on the chef, who was reaching into his sash to pull out another full set of throwing knives.

"Right," said the Doctor. He aimed his sonic screwdriver straight up, releasing a stream of pure blue light through the glass domed ceiling, and out into the early morning sky. The buzzing of the sonic filled the room, its stillness making the sound a hundred times louder than it would usually be.

"What do you think that will accomplish?" the chef asked contemptuously, when the Doctor lowered his arm. "Do you think help will come for you? There's no ship signature anywhere close. If you had friends, they would have come for you already. But no, you are alone, and you accomplish nothing by your signal." His face as twisted into a mask of scornful fury. "No one is coming for you, Doctor."

"You're wrong," said the Doctor. "Well, not about the nobody coming for me part. That part's true. But I wasn't signaling someone to come for _me. _Because, you know, you're not really my problem. Your little bid for power and wealth happens to take place on a planet I'm rather fond of, but actually, you're not my responsibility. I just wanted dinner, and got poisoned by you by accident. In fact, this whole thing is a bit of a fluke. Who _is_ responsible for you is the Gami. And I've just asked them to kindly come and collect you." The Doctor stared the chef straight in the face, his eyes blazing like fire and ice and the heart of the storm. "I want you off my planet," he said with calm fury.

The chef turned whiter than his apron. He backed up a step, his façade slipping. Braver men than him had been terrified by the Oncoming Storm.

"They… they wouldn't," he faltered.

"You don't think so?" the Doctor asked. "Listen."

In the split second of silence that followed, they could all hear it – a low hum, which was steadily getting louder. The ground beneath them began to shake. A cup, perilously poised on the edge of the bench at the far end of the room, shook off the edge and smashed into a thousand pieces on the floor.

A shadow spread over the room, dimming the early morning light that was coming through the ceiling. Simultaneously, the glass dome of the ceiling above them shattered, causing everyone to throw up their arms to protect their faces from the rain of glass that fell upon them, tinkling like a thousand tiny bells.

From above, a platform was lowered, on which stood four tall and imposing figures in full samurai garb. The leader had a magnificent red feather for a crest on his helmet.

"Who has summoned us?" he demanded.

The Doctor stepped forward, bowing politely.

"Hello," he said cheerfully. "I'm the Doctor. I believe I've found someone of yours lurking on my favorite planet, and I'd like to return him." he nodded towards the chef, who now seemed small and insignificant, where before he had been huge and imposing.

The chef panicked, and turned to flee, but the doorway was already blocked by two huge samurai warriors. They caught him by the arms, one on each side, and frog-marched him to where their leader had just stepped off the platform.

"You have the mark of a Gami," he said. "Do you deny it?"

The chef trembled.

"I have left the Gami warriors," he replied, pulling himself up to his true height. "I was minding my own business – literally – when this, this _alien_ tries to throw me off the planet. He doesn't even belong here either!"

Elizabeth scoffed.

"That's not what happened!"

"What happened, maiden?" the Gami leader asked, turning to Elizabeth.

Under his ferocious glare, Elizabeth was quelled.

"He's been putting Time Lord poison in the food he makes," she said shyly. "It's addictive to humans."

"It's true," said the Doctor, rescuing Elizabeth, who was by now very uncomfortable. "The drug he was using is of my race's origin. He claims to have found it in space. We would never have known, except that it is poison to me."

"Is this true?" the Gami leader thundered.

The chef flinched, but remained silent.

"Is it?" the leader demanded. "Have you been using such dishonourable and dishonest tricks in order to deceive the people of this planet?"

"I wasn't hurting anybody," the chef muttered. "It's not harmful to the species of this planet."

"It's addictive!" Jenna jumped in indignantly. "How is that not harmful? Just because it didn't kill anyone right away doesn't mean it's good for them! Who knows what kind of damage a Gallifrayan poison does to a human's system."

The Gami leader looked to the Doctor.

"Thank you for bringing him to our attention," he said calmly. "We will deal with his dishonour in our own way."

The Doctor nodded.

"Just get him off this planet," he agreed. "I never want to see him again."

The Gami leader nodded.

"Come," he said stepping back onto the platform. The other warriors stepped into it too, still holding tight to the chef's forearms.

"No! You can't do this to me!" the chef protested.

"Silence!" boomed the leader. "You have already disgraced us enough. You will be silent, and bring no further shame to your people."

He bowed ceremoniously to the Doctor, who bowed back. Then, the platform rose into the air, back through the hole in the glass ceiling. As soon as it was up, the shadow of the ship disappeared, and sunlight once more poured into the room.

"Well," the Doctor said, looking around at the chaos of broken glass and splintered wood. "That was fun."

Karena looked at the Doctor with incredulous eyes.

"You, Doctor," she said, "are sick."

* * *

In the end, they all helped to destroy the lab, the waitresses and chefs from the restaurant as well as Team TARDIS. The Gami had been as a tyrant over them, and now that they were free of him they were happy to destroy his lab.

"What will happen to the restaurant, now that he is gone?" Mina asked hesitantly to the Doctor.

The Doctor smiled at her, and rummaged in his pocket, pulling out a rolled up piece of paper.

"When I was in the other room, I happened to find this sitting under a tree," he said. "You'll take good care of it for me, won't you?"

Mina unrolled it, then gasped. It was the deed to the restaurant.

"Me?" she squeaked.

The Doctor smiled.

"I can't imagine anyone more qualified to take care of the best restaurant in the universe," he said, clapping the petite girl on the shoulder.

Mina glanced at Jenna.

"I hope you will still come back," she said shyly. "You may not be addicted to the food any more, but it's still as good as it used to be."

Jenna laughed.

"Of course I will!" she said. "After all, I have to find out whether I really like sushi after all!"

* * *

They destroyed all the equipment for making the poison, but the poison itself the Doctor made them gather up and take back to the TARDIS. There wasn't much – all of it that they could find fit comfortably into an envelope.

The Doctor took the envelope, stuffing it into his pocket.

"I'm not taking any chances," he said. "I'll destroy it myself."

He lovingly gathered up the pages with their swirling Gallifrayan writing looping over the paper, caressing the designs with his slender fingers before tucking them into the pocket of his tweed jacket.

Karena looked around the (now empty) white room where the tables full of equipment had once stood.

"What's going to happen to this place?" she asked. "Are we just going to leave it here?"

"I don't think that would be wise," said the Doctor. He twisted a setting on his screwdriver, and then pointed it at the wall. At the screwdriver's high-pitched humming, the huge white room melted away, replaced with a small, empty flat. It took a few moments before any vestige of their prison was completely gone.

Jenna took several steps forward, peeking into the hall.

"It's just an empty flat," she said.

"Yes," said the Doctor.

"Where'd the other rooms go?" Karena asked.

The Doctor shrugged, but said no more on the subject.

* * *

The Doctor was very quiet when they got back to the TARDIS. While his companions talked and chattered, he had thrown the TARDIS into the void, but not entered a new destination. He seemed happy to let her float aimlessly.

River had offered to show Karena some of the rooms the old girl had to offer, especially the closet room, and the swimming pool in the library. Jenna had happily gone with them, but Elizabeth stayed behind, opting instead to settle with a book into the pilot's seat in the console room.

The Doctor was leaning against the TARDIS's doorpost, the wooden doors thrown wide open to reveal the swirling nothingness of the void outside. He seemed absorbed by it, hypnotized. It was as if the jumble of colours and shapes outside echoed the chaos of his own mind. Elizabeth put down her book to watch him.

He dug into his pocket, and produced the plain white envelope that held all of the poison that they had gathered from the restaurant. He held it in his hands, as if weighing it. It was, Elizabeth realized, all that was left of his civilization. And it represented something else as well: it represented his last hope, lost. Even if it had turned out that a Time Lord _was_ responsible for drugging the food in the restaurant, at least it would mean another Time Lord was out there, that another one besides himself and the Master had survived. But no, there were no more Time Lords. He alone of his race was alive in the universe.

Inside her mind, the TARDIS hummed a sad song to Elizabeth.

"Yeah," she whispered. "It feels like that, doesn't it? Could you play that, please?"

There was the click of a record engaging, and from the gramophone came the soft sounds of a lone bagpipe, playing the familiar, melancholy tune – Amazing Grace.

"What's he doing?" Jenna whispered to Elizabeth, coming up behind her.

"I think he's having a funeral," Elizabeth answered.

"Should we be with him right now?" Jenna asked, her eyes on the Doctor's hunched back as he leaned against the TARDIS's blue lintel. "Make sure he knows he's not alone?"

"No," said Elizabeth. "Let him be. Come on." She tugged at her friend's arm. "Let's go find River and Karena."

They exited the control room, with a final glance behind them at the Doctor, silhouetted against the void.

If the Doctor heard them, he didn't indicate it. He took the Gallifrayan pages out of his pocket as well, and with a piece of string, tied them to the envelope containing the poison. He held the packet for a moment, contemplating it. Then, with a sharp flick of his wrist, he threw the entire thing into the void.

He stood alone at the open door for a long time after that.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Karena leaned back in her chair with a sigh of contentment.

"I'm so _full_," she groaned.

"That was almost worth being drugged and locked up almost all night," Jenna agreed, taking a sip of her green tea. "Turns out I really _do_ like sushi. Thank goodness for that."

The Doctor grinned, glancing around the crowded market place. They sat in an out-of-the-way table in a small outdoor shop, eating the second best sushi in the universe. The bustle of ancient Japan swirled around them, taking no notice of their strange clothes and even stranger manners.

"I told you, right?" he said. "Great sushi. Not as good as the place we were before, but…"

"This stuff isn't going to poison you and drug us," Jenna cut in wryly.

"This is true," the Doctor acknowledged with a nod of his head.

"And nobody's tried to kill us… yet," Elizabeth said, looking around the busy market place with mock alarm.

"Don't worry," River said. "Ancient Japan is the only place the Doctor _doesn't_ have enemies."

"Yet," the Doctor added, grinning widely. "Just give me time."

"Isn't _that_ the truth," River replied archly.

"Oy!" objected the Doctor. "You're supposed to be on my side!"

"Yes, dear," said River. "Of course, dear. Whatever you say, dear." She patted his arm in a soothing manner.

Jenna gave Elizabeth a significant look.

Elizabeth scowled back.

"I still don't believe it," she muttered to her friend.

"You're not seeing what you don't want to see," Jenna told her. "It's right there in front of you, just look at them!"

Elizabeth glanced over at the Doctor and River, who were lost in their own private joke, the Doctor with his arm casually draped over the back of River's chair, while she gently leaned into him in an obviously intimate and familiar gesture.

"Hmph," she said eloquently.

River stood up from the table, her chair scraping against the ground as she got up and stretched.

"Well, this has certainly fulfilled my craving for sushi for a while," she said. "There's nothing like sushi when you're down and out. Somehow sushi always makes you feel better, no matter what the circumstances are. It feeds the soul as well as the body."

"Sushi for the soul," Karena summed up, smiling.

"Exactly!" agreed River. "But I'm afraid I really should be getting back. This was only supposed to be a dinner date, and my keepers will be wanting me back soon."

"Keepers?" Karena asked.

River grinned.

"It's best you don't know," she said, grinning.

"Yes," said the Doctor. "I think it's time we headed home."

* * *

The TARDIS hummed a happy hello to them as Team TARDIS returned, this time unscathed from their venture outside her doors.

"I don't get in trouble _every_ time I go outside," the Doctor muttered to her as he pushed and pulled various levers and knobs.

The TARDIS whistled in disbelief.

"Once in a while I come back in one piece," the Doctor reminded her.

The TARDIS gave a smug beep, and threw herself into the vortex.

"Next stop, Stormhold," the Doctor said.

River nodded, collecting her gray jacket from the back of the pilot's seat and slipping her arms into it.

The TARDIS landed with a soft thump.

"We're here," said the Doctor, checking the monitor.

River walked to the TARDIS doors, but didn't open them just yet.

"I suppose you're not going to tell me when I'll see you again?" the Doctor asked, a note of hopefulness in his voice.

River laughed a deep, throaty laugh.

"Spoilers, Doctor. You know I can't do that."

"Well..." drawled the Doctor. "I thought I would ask anyways. It was worth a try."

"You try every time," said River. "And I always say the same thing."

"Someday you won't," the Doctor reminded her.

River nodded.

"Someday. Someday soon."

"Goodbye, River," said the Doctor.

River threw her arms around him, and dragged the tall man into a hug. His arms went around her, and he hugged her back.

"See you soon," she promised, kissing his cheek.

She let him go, and opened one side of the blue wooden doors, throwing a wink over her shoulder before she disappeared outside them.

Jenna turned to Elizabeth, her arms crossed over her chest.

"You can't deny that one," she said. "It's blindingly obvious."

Elizabeth threw up her hands in surrender.

"Ok! Ok! You win!" she said. "I surrender. You were right!"

Jenna looked smug.

"That's a tenner you owe me," she said.

Elizabeth handed the bill over, looking grumpy.

"I can't believe you were right."

"Right about what?" Karena asked.

Elizabeth looked at the Doctor, who stood ridged before the closed door, one hand still touching the cheek River had kissed, as if he could feel her lips there still.

"Nothing," she said. "I was just wrong about something, is all."

* * *

"Here you are," said the Doctor, indicating the tidy apartment building on the small, tidy street with satisfaction. "I brought you back in one piece, and almost before you started too. It's only been twenty minutes since you left to meet Jenna and Elizabeth for dinner."

Karena looked from Elizabeth to Jenna and back.

"Are you two really staying with him?" Karena asked, "You could come home too, if you wanted to."

"What, and go back to boring life?" Jenna asked. "Feeding the cat and watching TV and going to class? No thanks."

"We don't have to _learn _about history," Elizabeth agreed. "We're living it. There's so much to see and do and experience. There's no way I'd give that up to go back to books and bills and writing notes."

"But what about the danger?" Karena asked. "We were very nearly killed back there."

Elizabeth shrugged.

"Part of the job. You hang out with the Doctor, you end up doing those kinds of things."

Jenna nodded.

"You get the monsters thrown in."

"But how can you live like that? Always running away, always moving from place to place. It's too mad an existence for me."

Elizabeth and Jenna exchanged grins.

"It's fun, once you get used to it," Elizabeth promised.

"A bit fast-paced," Jenna admitted. "But still really fun."

Karena shook her head emphatically.

"No thanks, not for me. I've got a home and a fiancé to get back to." She jerked her thumb to the tidy looking apartment building behind her.

The Doctor shrugged.

"Suit yourself. You might like it, you know. And I could have you back here before anyone even knew you were gone."

Karena shook her had.

"I'd know I was gone. I'd miss him," she said, nodding to her apartment building once again.

"Here's the thing, though," said Elizabeth wrinkling her nose, "The us in your timeline, we haven't met the Doctor yet. You can't tell us where you've been all this time, why you didn't show up for dinner."

"You can't talk about it at all," chipped in Jenna. "It will screw up the timeline."

"So what do I say?" Karena asked.

Jenna looked thoughtful.

"It's weird. I remember what you said. You just refused to talk about it. At the time I thought it was really weird and suspicious. Huh. Weird. I remember it, but it hasn't happened yet."

The Doctor shrugged.

"Wibbly wobbly, timey wimey," he said by way of an explanation.

"So I should just refuse to talk about it?" Karena asked.

"I think that would be best," Jenna said. "After all, we'll understand some day."

Karena nodded. She hugged both her friends.

"Be careful," she said. "Don't get yourselves killed on some distant planet a million years ago."

"We'll try not to," Elizabeth laughed.

They exchanged waves, and then Karena pulled her key out of her pocket and unlocked her apartment.

"Hey Karena," those standing outside heard from the apartment inside. "I thought you and your friends were having supper tonight."

"I decided to stay in with you instead," Karena said. She turned slightly to smile at Team TARDIS, then vanished into her apartment, closing the door behind her.

The Doctor draped one arm over Jenna's shoulders, and one over Elizabeth's.

"Well, that was fun," he said, turning away from Karena's door and towards his blue telephone box, which was sitting unobtrusively on the side of the road.

"_Fun_ isn't exactly the word I would use," Elizabeth joked.

"More like _crazy_ and _weird_ and _death-defying_," Jenna agreed.

"Like I said, fun," said the Doctor.

His companions both burst out laughing. He grinned, pleased with himself.

"Well, girls," he said, opening the TARDIS door with a flourish and ushering his two companions in. "Where shall we go now?"

Elizabeth and Jenna exchanged amused looks.

"Why don't you surprise us?" Jenna said.

* * *

In a distant galaxy, in a distant time, a disgruntled Gami warrior sat hunched in the cockpit of his small ship. He glared fiercely at the blackness of space.

"I _hate_ their rules and their stupid code of honour," he informed the stars outside his viewport. "I hate having to follow every guideline. We need to _evolve_ as a species. We can't stay locked in the ancient past, following all the old rituals blindly!"

He slumped in his pilot's chair, and glared unfocusedly out of the view screen. To his surprise, an object floated past in his line of vision. He sat up quickly.

"Computer, identify object," he instructed.

"Unknown," the computer replied smoothly.

"Retrieve object with a tractor beam," he snapped quickly. His curiosity was piqued.

"Stand by," replied the computer.

There was a moment's wait, and a small _thud_ as the strange object was deposited into the ship.

The warrior reached into the slot, and pulled the object out. It was a bundle of papers, and a plain white envelope.

First, he unrolled the papers. They were scrawled all over with a strange flowing, twisting, swirling script that he had never seen before. Its beauty and complexity took his breath away.

Next, he opened the envelope, already feeling the thrill of excitement shoot down his spine. What would he find next in this mysterious package from the depths of space? Inside, the envelope was full of a slightly orange powder. He stuck his finger in and brought it to his lips, tasting in. His eyebrows shot up as he recognized its properties.

A gleam appeared in his eye. He had the perfect idea.


End file.
